Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s political organization, Change Maryland, released a TV ad Thursday urging Marylanders to support the Republican’s plan to widen the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270.
The 30-second spot, titled “The Best Way Forward,” is part of a six-figure TV and digital ad campaign, Change Maryland said in a statement. The group described the ad as part of a push to educate the public about the highway proposal.
The ad mostly features footage of bad highway traffic and exasperated commuters, followed by more open roadways. It also flashes on a Washington Post editorial from April 2019 that supported Hogan’s highway plan.
And it refers to the governor’s proposed express toll lanes, which the Hogan administration envisions using to substantially fund the project, as “voluntary new lanes.”
“There will come a day when COVID leaves and traffic returns,” a narrator says as the ad begins. “Soul crushing, worst-in-the-nation traffic. Governor Hogan has a bold traffic relief plan to get Maryland moving again. Rebuilding the American Legion Bridge. Widening the Capital Beltway and 270. Adding voluntary new lanes, all current lanes remain free. Less traffic, cleaner air at virtually no cost to the taxpayers. The Post agrees – Hogan’s plan is the best path forward. Support Governor Hogan’s traffic relief plan.”
The ad does not say how supporters of Hogan’s plan ought to take action.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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